Physiological and Evolutionary basis of behaviour — the first-year Psychology chapter on why we act as we do

A baby grips your finger the moment you touch its palm. Nobody taught it that. A dog in your gali runs to the gate when it hears the sound of the lunch tiffin. Nobody sat it down and taught it that. It learned from repetition. Two kinds of behaviour. One is built in. One is picked up. This chapter asks where behaviour comes from.

The NCH syllabus gives “Physiological and Evolutionary basis of behaviour” chapter three of Fundamentals of Psychology in relation to Homoeopathy (HomUG-FPH). “Physiological” means to do with how the body works. “Evolutionary” means to do with how living things have changed over many generations. “Basis” means foundation. So the title asks: what in the body, and what in our long history, lies under the way we behave?

The sheet lists six topics.

Topic one: instincts and reflexes

“Instincts, conditioned and unconditioned reflexes”.

An instinct is a pattern of behaviour a creature is born with. It does not have to be learned.

A reflex is a quick, automatic response to something. The sheet names two kinds. An unconditioned reflex is one you are born with. A conditioned reflex is one that is learned, when a response becomes linked to a new signal through repetition. The dog and the tiffin sound is the everyday picture of this. Your textbook will describe the classic experiments behind the idea.

A bridge to Physiology. The Central Nervous System chapter of first-year Physiology has a topic called “Reflex”. There, you learn the nerve pathway. Here, you learn what reflexes mean for behaviour. Keep the two sets of notes side by side.

Topic two: conscious and unconscious behaviour

“Conscious and unconscious behaviour”. Conscious behaviour is what you do knowingly, by choice. Unconscious behaviour happens without your awareness. You may not even notice it until someone points it out.

This topic fills a gap from chapter two. That chapter’s title ends with “Conscious and Unconscious elements” but has no topic line for them. Here they are.

Topic three: studying behaviour scientifically

“Scientific study of Behaviour and its expressions”.

Behaviour can be watched, recorded and measured. That is what makes a scientific study of it possible. “Its expressions” means the many ways behaviour shows itself: in action, in speech, in face and posture. Your textbook will give the methods psychologists use.

Topic four: evolution and behaviour

“Evolutionary study of behaviour”.

This topic asks why some kinds of behaviour exist at all. The evolutionary answer looks back over a very long time. It asks what a behaviour may have done for the survival of our ancestors. Learn the idea, and the examples your textbook gives. Keep in mind that this is one way of explaining behaviour, among others.

Topic five: behaviour, emotion and thought

“Understanding relationship of Behaviour to Emotions and Thought”.

This picks up the chain from chapter two: thought, feeling and behaviour, each affecting the others. Here, behaviour is the starting point. What we do is shaped by what we feel and what we think. It can shape them in return. Chapter four goes deeper into emotion, and chapter five into thinking.

Topic six: behaviour in the books

“Expressions of Behaviour in Repertory and Materia Medica”.

Materia Medica describes homoeopathic medicines one by one. Repertory is the index of symptoms that homoeopaths search. Both record behaviour, not only physical complaints. This topic asks you to notice that, and to see how behaviour is written down in each.

The sheet names no medicine and no rubric here. A rubric is one heading in the repertory. Your Materia Medica and Repertory teachers will show you examples from the books.

How the chapter sits in the year

This is chapter three. Chapter two gave you the three parts of the mind. This chapter takes the third part, behaviour, and asks where it comes from. It has a close partner in Physiology, where reflexes and the nervous system are studied. Later in the Psychology paper, chapter seven, “Learning and its place in adaptation”, builds on the idea that behaviour can be learned.

What to take from it

1. Define instinct, and the two kinds of reflex, with an everyday example of each.
2. Explain conscious and unconscious behaviour.
3. Know why behaviour can be studied scientifically.
4. Explain the evolutionary view of behaviour in plain words.
5. Know that Materia Medica and Repertory both record behaviour.

The sheet gives six topics and no detail. The experiments, the theories and the examples come from your textbook and your teachers.

Where to go next on the platform

This piece sits in the first-year Psychology room. “Thought, Feeling and Behaviour — the first-year Psychology chapter on how the mind is organised” comes just before it. “Central Nervous System — the first-year Physiology chapter on the brain and spinal cord at work” gives the physiology of the reflex.